Make a Difference
by littlemissleijon
Summary: John's father owns a prison. Not a normal prison, though. It's a prison for the deformed. Most of the so-called "prisoners" here are around their mid to late teens and have animalistic deformities. Against his dad's beliefs, John sets out to somehow free all of the prisoners, and it all starts with the mutated bird kid with the scarlet eyes.
1. Chapter 1

People say that if you're treated like and animal long enough that you become one. That's the case for many of the prisoners here. Locked up because of animal-like deformities and then beaten, barely fed, and never cleaned. Most of these prisoners are beyond saving. They've been here so long that humanity is beyond them. Even speech is foreign. My own sister was imprisoned because of her dog-like ears and tail. She eventually became unreconizable and wouldn't even respond to her name. But, there's one prisoner that I know I can save, and he's been here longer than any other.

As I opened the door to his room he cringed at the light. Most of the prisoners are deprived of both artificial and natural light, so it's hard for them to adjust to it. When he saw me coming in, he tried his best to sit up, using his weak arms for support. The feather mass around his neck started puffing up and he stretched his full wingspan, allowing me to see how gloriously filthy he was. From what I could tell, his feathers used to be an orange, and his hair was probably blonde. He tried to make himself look intimidating, but the look on his face told me he was in more pain than fear.

After a few moments of him failing to be intimidating he collapsed with a huff of discomfort. He covered himself with his grimy wings and curled up, but I could still hear his strangled breathing. I tried walking over to him, but the feathers on his wings started to frill, and I didn't want to get attacked. Sitting down, I stared at him, trying to take in as much as I could.

His wings were absolutely disgusting. Covered almost entirely with dirt, grime, and were those fleas? From what I could see, his hair was equally as dirty. Originally, it was probably a really light blonde. His pants, or what was left of them, were streaked with dried blood, dirt, and completely shredded up to his knees. He moved a bit of his wing from his face and I smiled. His eyes were amazing. They were so red, like scarlet, and he had a ton of little freckles decorating his cheeks.

Soon he moved the entire wing away from his body, and I was able to see him completely. Almost identically coloured feathers formed a sort of boa around his neck and covered most of his chest. I moved closer, almost certain that I was safe from him. He didn't attack me, but rather he just stared at me sadly with those red eyes and I couldn't help but feel sympathetic. Crawling a little closer, I pressed my hand to his forehead, despite his cringing, and tried to take his temperature. The poor thing was practically on fire and he was sweating, too.

All too soon my phone vibrated in my pocket, and I hoped I wasn't Dad. But, my lucky stars didn't like me enough because it was him. Time to go before he found out. I took a package of crackers out of my pocket, opened it, and left it near the bird kid. I would make sure I would be back tomorrow with some medicine, food, and something to clean him with. Before I left I looked back at the kid hastily munching on the crackers and thought of all the lies my dad had been saying. Maybe Jade was okay, maybe no one in this prison was like he said, or maybe it was all the truth and this kid was just too sick to do anything. I shrugged as I closed the door and ran to meet Dad.

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**AN: This is a story I've been thinking about for awhile. Already, I've written up until Chapter Four. I'd really like some feedback on this 'cause I'm not sure how good this is. Also, I apologize for this very short chapter and those to come. Reviews are love~**


	2. Chapter 2

"John!" Dad scolded as I ran up to him, panting like crazy. "Where have you been?"

I put up a hand so he could wait until I caught my breath. "I was, um, at the lower levels. Checking for for, uh, anything unusual." I smiled. That was a good excuse, considering I had made it up on the spot.

He nodded in approval before patting my head and saying, "Your Nanna's here." My smile widened and I grabbed my backpack that was near the front door. With a quick goodbye to my dad I ran outside and hopped into my Nanna's car. She smiled and the wrinkles around her eyes and mouth scrunched up. Nanna was so sweet. She also had a huge knack for baking, and everything she made tasted amazing. I swear, she should've worked at the Betty Crocker factory or something.

"Hello, John. How did it go?" She questioned and I could clearly see the worry in her eyes. Nanna had actually been the one to give me the idea and the courage to execute it. Obviously, she didn't approve of what was happening in that place, either.

I shrugged. "He didn't really do anything, just lay there and be sick. You should see his eyes, though, Nanna! They're like completely red! And his wings are just... Wow. I really wish I could see them when they're clean. I bet they'd be even more stunning." I sat back in my seat as Nanna started the car. She started down the road and I looked out the window, dreaming of helping the bird-kid.

Nanna nodded, "He sounds amazing... But I'm not sure what we could do for him..."

I smiled as and idea came to mind. "Nana! We could help him get out of there! I could feed him, wash him, and teach him a whole bunch of stuff!" I exclaimed.

Nana smiled and her face wrinkled up. "Thats a wonderful idea, hon. I'll pack you a large lunch tomorrow and something to wash him with."

Once they we got home I grabbed my backpack and practically flew out of the car. Dropping my bag on the couch, I ran upstairs to my room and started writting up tomorrow's learning curriculum. No matter what, I was going to help this bird kid, and hopefully every other kid in the prison. I would make a difference.

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**Yaaaaay. Another short chapter. Could they get any smaller? Probably not. Thanks for everyone who Favourited, Reviewed, and followed this story. Much love to you. Why not review again, hm?**


	3. Chapter 3

The next day Nanna dropped me off at the prison early so I could get an early start. When she left I checked in and rushed down to the lowest levels of the building. Steel doors covered almost every single wall of the prison, and I couldn't help but wonder if there were more prisoners like the one that I knew. Although I was very anxious to get to him, I took my time examining the different sounds coming behind each door.

One of them was a buzzing, another a high-pitched screeching, and even some gruesome snipping sounds from one. In no time, though, I was at my destination. He cringed at the lighting when I opened the door again, but visually relaxed when he realized it was me. I smiled and greeted him with a simple "Hey," to which be just stared at me intently as a response.

I went and sat down next to him before opening my bag and setting up all the stuff I had. When I pulled out my lunch box and started lining up the food in front of him he tried scooching a little closer to me. Offering him a smile, I held out a small slice of bread for him. He took it greatfully and practically swallowed it as soon as it was in his mouth. It went this way with almost every other piece of food I gave him. I wouldn't be eating lunch today, but it was fine as long as long as he had eaten.

Finally I tried talking to him. Just a small " How's it going?" put his red irises right on me. Up close they were even more impressive. He seemed to be examining me with a great interest. Holding out my hand I tried another approach. "My name's John Egbert. What's yours?"

In response he looked down and I just barely saw his mouth moving. Before I could form a response he looked up at me and his gaze was so intense it could've shattered a glass. "Why?" he whispered.

My eyes widened. Oh my god he can talk! Somewhat regaining my composure I asked, "Why what?"

He scowled and looked down and I could see his shoulders tense up. "Why do you want to know my name? I'm just a freak that no one likes! My very presence makes everyone quake in utter disgust!" he protested, and I could hear him choking on his words.

I reached over and put my hand one of his bony shoulders. "Hey you're not disgusting. Actually, you're pretty fucking awesome in my opinion."

He glared at me. "So what does it matter? You're opinion isn't important so who cares?"

"Well my opinion means a whole lot to me, so therefore it's important." I shrugged.

His eyes widened and he looked down. "Dave." he whispered.

"Hm?"

He looked up, confidence in his eyes. "My name. I'm Dave."

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**Okay so now we're kind of sort of just maybe a little getting into the plot. Oh yes. Thanks for everyone who Reviewed, Favourited, and Followed this story. It means so much! Also, more reviews, more chapters. I think that was blackmail right there. Yup. It was. **


	4. Chapter 4

**I just want to say huge thanks to curiouskat88, who I believe was a guest. Your review was the longest I've ever gotten, and the best. It gave me the inspiration to write more. I really love ya, thanks! Now, on to the story!**

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It was a few more days before I had seen Dave again. Nanna had taken me out of town for some weird convention about baked goods. There were as much old people as there were young, and it kind of weirded me out. You'd think that a baked goods convention would be full of grandmas trying to promote their award winning recipes, but nope. Many of the younger people were promoting their great grandmother's cakes or things like that. All I can say is, they all tasted awesome. I'd also saved a few pastries for Dave and got him these super cool aviator shades to help shield his eyes from the light.

After Nanna dropped me off early Monday morning I rushed down to the lower levels, this time not caring to listen outside the doors. Finally getting to his assigned cell, I opened the door to a sleeping Dave. For a second I had a minor freakout about how freaking adorable Dave looked when he was asleep. Closing the door quietly I reached into my bag and got out a flashlight and flicked it on. Slowly, I walked over to him and tried waking him up.

The first few times it didn't work, but when I sat down next to him and opened a container of one of Nanna's best cakes he sat right up. It took him a second to notice me, but he followed the direction of the light back to me and smiled a bit. "Is that you with all those awesome smelling cakes?"

I nodded and gave him a piece of Nanna's chocolate cake which he quickly wolfed down. He ended up eating the array of deserts in about ten minutes. After he gobbled up the last one I sighed and said, "Geez who new a human being could eat that much confections in so little time."

At this remark his feathers frilled up a bit and he frowned. "I'm not human," he growled. "And I really wouldn't like to be either. By the way they treat my kind I'd be ashamed to be one of them."

I laughed. "Well I'm human. I treat you nicely, right?"

"Yeah whatever," he sighed before looking up. "Oh, yeah, I meant to ask you, do you know Jade? I haven't seen her in awhile."

I swallowed hard. Was it really possible that he knew my sister? Well that could explain why he was able to speak and such. "Jade's my sister... Um, she's upstairs right now."

Dave scooted himself a litttle closer, his suspicions probably forgotten. "Well why didn't she come down with you? Is she sick?" he asked with genuine concern.

"I guess you can call her sick, but it's kind of permenant."

"Like cancer?!" he gasped.

I chuckled "No, not cancer. It's just kind of... She's like you now I guess. Well instead of the wings and stuff she's got dog ears and a dog tail like our old dog Bec."

He thought for a moment before finally sighing and saying, "That's very bad. She was nice and cool and stuff."

"I'm nice and cool, too, right?!" I asked, genuinely curious.

He looked at me and smirked, "Eh, not so much."

I scowled before going into my bag and producing the pair of super cool aviator shades I had gotten for Dave. "Well if I'm not as nice and cool as my sister then I guess this perfectly good pair of aviators are going to have to go to waste." I sighed with mock disappointment.

Dave's eyes widened and I could see that his interest was totally piqued. He grabbed for them, but I quickly moved them out of his reach. When he tried swiping them again and I pulled them away, the feather mass around his neck started to puff up. I tried stifling a laugh, but to no avail. This only made Dave more frusterated. His face started turning a light pink and by this time his feathers were fully fluffed up. Admittedly, he was adorable with that little scowl and his feathers fluffed up around his face. Once again he tried grabbing for those super cool shades and once again I held them just out of his reach. Pouting, he turned away from me and mumbled, "I guess you're as cool and nice as your sister." That to which I awarded him with the glasses and he smiled triumphantly.

After putting them on he tried to strike his best "cool" pose while sitting down. Of course I laughed. Who wouldn't? He had his chest sticking out and a hillarious excuse for a serious look plastered on his face. I sort of calmed down when again I got a great view of his disgusting and grime-covered wings. Crawling a little closer, I touched one of his dark orange wings. It felt amazing. Like each feather was carved to fit into the others.

"John!" Dave shouted. I looked up at him and saw that he was a little flustered. Taking my hand off of his wing, I looked at him questionably. "Don't touch my wings, okay? I don't like it... It reminds me of Him when I was little and how I'll probably never see him again."

"Who's 'him'?" I couldn't help but ask.

Dave looked away and I could just barely see the sadness in his eyes out of the side of his glasses. It was a little while before he spoke again. "'Him' is my brother. I've been here for awhile now and I haven't seen him in all this time. I miss him a lot, and I can remember him being the coolest fucking guy in the world. And there was this guy, too. His name was Jake and he was cool, too, I think. I really wish I could see them again. To have a family again, like you."

He was crying after that. I could see the tears falling from under his glasses and streaming down his cheeks. It was getting hard to watch, so after a minute of this I crawled over to him and gave him a small hug. "It's okay," I reassured him while he sobbed into my shoulder, "Everythings's going to be alright. We're going get you out of here and you're going to see your brother again. We'll get your family back together again. I promise."

When he let go he was red-faced and rubbing his eyes under his shades. He sniffled a bit and muttered a small thanks before laying down. "Can you bring more food tomorrow?" he asked hopefully.

I nodded. "Yeah, I will. And I'll bring something to wash you with because you're filthy." I took a small blanket out of my bag and covered him with it. "Keep the flashlight, okay? I want you to be able to see."

He nodded and curled up in the blanket, obviously enjoying the warmth he got from it. I picked up my bag and walked over to the heavy metal door and opened it. Taking one last look at the bird-kid I turned around and shut the door, my last words, "Night, Dave," and my last thoughts about my sister and how she spent time with this kid, teaching him things. I wished I could see her smiling face again. Just one more time.

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**Hey? You know that cool Image feature for a story cover? If any of you awesome people are infinitately better at art than I am, I would abosolutely love a cover! I promise you'll get full credit and everything! So, if you have a cover, please PM it to me! It would be AWESOME.**

**ALSO I'm finding it hard to make these chapters longer. I know you guys are asking for longer chapters, but it's really hard for me to write long chapters. I also prefer shorter chapters rather than longer ones, too. **

**And last, last thing. I know Dave is like super OOC in this chapter, but think. He's been in this prison forever now and he really hasn't been able to share any of his feelings with other people. He couldn't tell Jade because she's a girl and he didn't want to appear to be weak and blah blah blah. This is my favourite chapter so far so please, please, please review! I'll also be using my black mail strategy this time, too.**


	5. Chapter 5

It was an early start the next morning, and by early, I meant about four in the morning. Nanna helped me out a lot with getting food ready and stuff like that. She had a dentist appointment that morning so we had to be super early. This also gave me more time to spend with Dave. Along with the food, we also remembered to pack some stuff to wash Dave with because, like I had said, he was disgusting. I also checked my bag about six times on the way to my dad's place because I couldn't contain my excitement. No doubt, was this going to be a good day.

After checking in I again ran down to the lowest level of the building. The further down I got, however, the atmosphere got thicker. I was really cautious when I turned the corner on the bottom floor, and when I saw people I immediately hid myself from view. Poking my head around the corner, I could see two of Dad's workers opening a cell and going into it. I hoped to dear god that it wasn't Dave's cell, but God didn't hear my pleas I guess because out they pulled an angry Dave with fluffed up feathers, flapping wings, and uncovered red eyes. He was swearing up a storm and trying desperately to escape from their holds.

When he did manage to do that he ran right back into his cell without a word or a look back. The men sighed, obviously giving up and closed and locked the door. Thankfully they went the opposite way and when I could no longer see them I rushed into Dave's cell. He was flicking the flashlight I had given him off and on boredly when I got in there and smiled when he looked up and saw me. "Hey John! Did you just see what happened? They were trying to bring me to the upper levels."

I nodded and sat down next to him. "Yeah I saw. That's not good, though. That means they've taken an interest in you. They were probably trying to get you for experimentation..." I trailed off. No. This couldn't happen. I didn't want this to happen. If they got him they would probably end up killing him. He needed to get out. A lot sooner than I probably could get him out, though. "But hey! Let's not think about this right now. I brought you more food and stuff to clean you with! So let's get started, okay?"

He gave me a skeptical look before nodding and putting his shades back on. I motioned for him to turn around and he did so, his back facing me. Reaching into my bag, I took out several bottles of water, a washcloth, a few pieces of cake, various shampoos, conditioners, and body washes, and lastly, a still cold bottle of apple juice. The juice was Nana's idea. She said that the taste would be perfect for Dave because she always slipped a bit of apple juice into her bird feeders.

I opened the juice container and handed it to Dave who just sipped it and looked at the wall mindlessly. Smiling, I pushed a few of the cakes over to him then wet down my washcloth. First I decided to do his hair because, honestly, it must've been disgustingly uncomfortable. When I started to gently massage his scalp he leaned into my touch and sighed. As I gently scrubbed his hair the cloth began to get dirtier, but his hair was beginning to become a lighter blonde than I had anticipated. It was like the yellow of an old piece of paper.

Soon his hair was as clean as I could get it and I decided to move on to his wings. I rinsed my washcloth and cautiously slid it across the top feathers of his right wing. He shivered at the touch and I tried to relax him a bit by washing small parts of the wing. After what seemed like forever Dave's right wing was clean and I got to take a closer look at it. The orange was a lot brighter than before, but somehow it also was a deep orange as well. His feathers were softer, tool, and I had no doubt that he was a lot more comfortable. I ended up doing the same slow process for his other wing, and it looked stunning as well. It's horrible that he was being forced to live in this disgusting state and being shunned from society. His life and family had been ripped away from him when he was too little to comprehend how much they meant to him. He didn't deserve it. No one deserved this.

Next I did his back. We really didn't have a problem with that. He was a little sensitive where his wings grew out of his back so I decided to try not press too hard there. Even though the colours of his skin and feathers were getting lighter, I still knew he wasn't clean. I'd have to make this a two-day task so I could get him completely clean.

I finished his back in about no time at all and asked him to turn to me while I rinsed the cloth for what seemed the hundreth time. Once he was facing me I took a closer look at his face. I focused on his eyes. They were so red, so different. They seemed full of hope and trust, but at the same time disgust and hate. He looked away when he noticed that I was staring and mumbled, "Get on with it, already."

That's what I did. I tried to be careful while washing his chest and the feathers around his neck. At the same time, though, I was looking for some kind of evidence that he was in a lab. Needle marks, red spots, or even some kind of bandage to stop a wound from bleeding. Sighing when I found nothing, I stood up and put my stuff back in my bag and turned to Dave. "All done," I said with a satisfied smile.

He jumped up and examined himself. He turned around to see his back, felt his wings and the feather mass on his neck, then finally turned to me with a smile on his face. "Awesome. Just awesome. I feel so different... So good!"

"You should! That took practically forever!" I answered with a slight chuckle. After he shot me a slight glare, I held him by the shoulders and proceeded to ask him something that would possibly be the best thing in his life so far. "Dave," I whispered. "What would you say if I could get you out of here? I could get you to your brother, and you could fly again. You could be free."

His smile widened, and he squeezed me in a hug, something he probably learned from Jade. "You know what? That would be the best thing in the world. I might rethink the whole idea of humans being good." I could practically feel him beaming into my chest. It was really reassuring, knowing I'd get him out of here and he'd be happy again. Maybe, I'd be able to do this with the others here.

Dave practically jumped away from me as my phone vibrated. I motioned for him to be silent as I swallowed a laugh and answered. It was Dad, of course. "Hey dad," I simply said.

"Hello Johnathan." He stated in his deep voice, which for some reason always sounded angry.

"Sup?" was my simple reply while I made a sideways glance towards Dave who was scoping out my backpack for more food.

"Where are you right now? Your grandmother was supposed to drop you off a few hours ago on account of her appointment."

I chuckled nervously, "O-Oh, y'know, just exploring the lower levels and scoping out any runaway prisoners."

"Is that so?" There was a rustling sound from behind the large metal cell door as it opened. My eyes widened as my dad came into view, cell phone in hand. "You're not supposed to be here, Johnathan."

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**Heeeeey I know it's been awhile and I'm sorry. I totally have been running around like crazy sewing nothing but cosplays. Even though the con's in May. Shhhhhhh. Um, okay, anyways, sorry again. I don;t deserve anymore reviews, but I still want them. Reviews are nice and fun and cool and make me happy. They all go into a special folder in my email. Also, the "Please make me a story cover"-thing is still up for grabs, and I REAAALLY want one! No pressure. And, to conclude, thanks for all the love and I should have another chapter up by/around Christmas. **


	6. Chapter 6

I'm not going to lie when I said I was taken from Dave kicking and screaming. Dad had to send in two big guys to apprehend me so that they could get to him. At first he seemed pretty confused, but the urgency in my voice probably set him off and his feathers ruffled up as he dodged the first few guys that came at him. Eventually, though, they cornered him.

They took us two different ways. Me the way I came down and Dave the way the workers went after admitting defeat. I looked behind me and saw him struggling like no tomorrow. He wanted freedom, and it was obvious. The workers had iron grips on him, though, because he was getting nowhere. Finally, as we were about to round the corner I escaped from the big guys and ran to Dave, pleading him to, "Fly!"

He looked back to me and made one more final attempt to break free, springing up into the air when he did. At first, he was pretty stoked. After all, he still remembered how to fly. Then he realized the gravity of the situation and swooped down to pick me up.

Just as he was about to grab me hand there was a sickening electric sound, and there was Dave, at my feet, face down. Some of his feathers were blackened, and, as I kneeled down I could see his body making small spasms. I nudged him, hoping he would look up and at least smile and tell me it was nothing. He didn't, though. The workers picked him up and took him away. I yelled at him desperately to wake the fuck up as I was forced the other way, but he was unconcious. They were going to do horrible experiments on him and I wouldn't be able to do anything.

The men brought me all the way back upstairs and locked me in Dad's office. I banged on the door for someone to let me out. Dave was in trouble and there was no way I could help. I'd never hated my dad more. He was a monster, I realized. Locking up poor defenseless kids after brutally ripping them away from their families. And, to think, that people thought he was doing something good, something beneficial to the world. If it was anything, it was a sin.

Sitting down, I thought of Jade. God did I miss her. She was amazing if she really did meet with the prisoners without anyone finding out. A true ninja. I chuckled at the small joke. I really did wish she was there. She always knew how to lighten the mood with a small joke or a reassuring statement. I looked around the office a bit, trying to find a key or something to help me get out and to Dave. To my surprise, something glittered from the sunlight on my father's desk. When I went over and picked it up I found that it was a small key. Not a key for opening doors, sadly, but a key for opening a safe or drawer. Again I looked around the room. When I laid my eyes on the tall filing cabinets I could feel a smile tugging at my lips.

I went over to one of the two cabinets and slowly pushed the key into the lock on the first drawer. Turning it, I slid open the the metal drawer as quietly as I could. For some reason, Dad kept files of all the prisoners in folders. A lot of folders, actually. Folders with tabs with names. Frantically, I looked with dim hope for the four letter name. It took a while for me to realize that the folders went by alphabetical order and I was looking for 'D' in 'R' through 'S'. After I slowly closed the drawer I went over to the other cabinet and opened up the top door as quiet as I did the other. I smiled as I found his name. Pulling out the the manilla folder labeled "David Strider", I closed the drawer quietly and sat back in Dad's office chair.

At that point, I threw caution to the wind and practically tore open the folder. Inside was a few sheets of paper and some photos. I took a look at the top piece of paper first. On it were some basic things like birthdate, sex, finger prints, etc. To my surprise, Dave was actually a few months older than me. I looked down to parents and found that his legal gaurdian was his brother who was about sixteen years older than him. That was most likely the brother Dave was talking about. As for a Jake, I saw nothing. He must've been a friend of the family or something. There was something at the bottom of the paper that diturbed me quite a bit, though. "Details of Capture" it read.

I was at war with myself a bit on whether or not I should read it. Finally, I decided that I should read it because it could contain valuable information on Dave. It was after I read it that I regretted it. Dave had been captured at about age seven, and his brother had done everything he could to protect him. Towards the end it listed that Dave had been taken practically unscathed, but his guardian had been inflicted with fatal injuries. The last sentence had said "Full grown mutants are far too strong to capture. Exterminate on site or face death or loss of target." Then it hit me. He was just like Dave. This Dirk Strider, or whatever his name was, was exactly the same. Probably bird wings and all. If I could somehow get in touch with him, Dave could get out. They all could. I smiled. Yes. This was going to happen, and I was going to make it happen.

I turned to my dad's computer and logged on. His password was pretty easy to figure out, and somewhat strange. Betty Crocker. Weird, right? As soon as the system logged on I opened up the browser. Going up to the search bar I typed in something along the lines of "people finder" and clicked on the first link that came up. I entered Dirk's name, birth year, sex, and state he lived in before pressing enter. The paper didn't really give a place that he lived, so I just assumed he lived in Washington, too. Dad usually doesn't travel out of the state for prisoners unless they're really dangerous or he's getting paid to do it.

To my surprise only one result came up. I was expecting at the least fifty, but wow, that was a lot less I had to do. I grabbed a pen from Dad's desk and wrote the phone number and address on my arm and pulled down my sweatshirt sleeve. Now I just had to wait until Nanna came to pick me up and I could use her phone to call Dirk. The excitement was eating away at me by the time I was let out from Dad's office.

Dad didn't even look at me twice, though. He just shoved me outside and into Nanna's car and walked back inside. Anxiety kicked in again and I felt a sick churning in my stomach. Dave was still in there. Oh god, what was Dad going to do to him. I almost threw up at the thought of him hurting Dave. Nanna put a reassuring hand on my back and I looked up at her, almost tearing up. "Don't worry, we'll get him back. I promise." She reassured me with a hopeful smile.

I nodded back to her, not even beginning to trust my voice. Something about Nanna's voice and the way she smiled seemed to calm me down a bit. After a few minutes of driving I finally spilled the news of my findings in my dad's office. She was practically ecstatic and gladly agreed to let me use her phone to call Dave's brother when we got home. For the rest of the ride we discussed on what I should say and possible scenarios and what he might say. I seriously beyond excited when we pulled into Nanna's driveway. If everything ended up going well, I could have Dave out in the next week. Picking up the phone I dialed the number from my arm with a huge smile on my face.

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**Okay, yes hello. The next chapter will be out whenever because I suck at updating. Thanks for all of these reviews so far (especially the long ones!) and I hope to see you in the next chapter. More reviews and even suggestions for the plot are totally welcome! **

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	7. Chapter 7

Dave woke with a shudder and hit his back against a collection of metal bars as he tried to sit up. Looking around, he grimaced at the sight of the lab outside of his cage. White gloves, the stench of sanitation, and needles flashed before his eyes as the nostalgia finally hit. He hated needles and everything of the like in that stupid lab. The lab workers had been taking him in periodically in last week and the tests were hell. They were so painful and so... So violating! When talking about it with John, he tried to sound nonchalant and cool, but in actuality he was terrified of what would happen to him when they finished their gruesome tests.

Soon there were rustling sounds towards what seemed to be the door and it opened, revealing a blinding light to Dave's sensitive eyes. Damn, he really wished he had those shades right now. Two men had entered the room as Dave was left to some of his reminiscing. He jolted back to reality, however, when one of the men opened the cage and the other went to turn on another blinding light. Even though Dave moved back as far as he could, the man still grabbed his arm with a grip enough to leave a bruise and pried him from the barred metal box roughly.

After that he was simply strapped to the freezing metal table in the middle of the room, wings open to their full length of a little over eight feet, and left there. All the workers did after that was leave. The blonde was left there his own thoughts for what was seemingly hours before anyone came in. Honestly, he wished no one had come in at all. Especially since the person who entered was the man that John called father.

He walked over and Dave was practically trembling with fear. God dammit where was John. Or Jade. Or Bro. Or just anyone! Anyone who could save him from any of the possible scarring things that was about to happen. John's Dad walked over to a small table to Dave's right and picked up a small pair of scissors before clearing his throat and beginning to talk in his deep, intimidating voice. "There are ways we have for breaking our prisoners." He mused. "For some, it's a simple beating. Others, it's the murder of a sibling or close friend. For you, I think I'll try something different."

Suddenly John's father was uncomfortably close to Dave's wings and his body became plagued with tremors. He picked up a small book from the table and flicked it open swiftly. The small pair of scissors was hovering dangerously close to Dave's feathers and when the first small snipping sound was heard, he couldn't help but let the tears flow from his closed eyes. More snips could be heard afterwards and the tears flowed faster.

A million things began to race through his head. Was he doing this methodically or was he just cutting random feathers? Why was this happening? What did he do to John? Would he be able to fly after this? Shit he's cutting so much. After what seemed like hours droning on with the painful sound of the scissors clipping he finally stopped and Dave cracked open a puffy red eye to see the damage done. There were bright orange feathers littered all across the floor. Though there was no physical pain, the emotional pain was evident on his face. "You're a fucking monster!" he yelled through sobs, "What the hell is wrong with you!?"

John's father chuckled, "It's quite simple, actually." he called a few men in and continued to speak. One of the men brought a needle to Dave's vein in the crook of his elbow. "I simply hate those who are not as normal as me and my son." Then he let out a blood curdling laugh as he faded and the world around him faded to blackness.

* * *

**Hallo. I have not updated in forever and I do feel very bad. So, I am sorry, but I did sort of go through a small thing of writer's block and then also laziness. But okay, let's talk about this chapter a bit. It was a horrible thing to write and I do feel so bad for it. BUT! There is good things coming up and I hope that they'll make up for this chapter! So, please, as always, review and favourite and follow if you haven't already! Also, I will be taking suggestions for the plot line from this point on, so if there's something you'd like to happen I'll try my best to put it in! See you in chapter eight!**


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